


A Time to Dare

by Deannie



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-07
Packaged: 2018-02-07 13:21:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1900449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deannie/pseuds/Deannie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Colonel, get out," Siler rapped. He'd never taken that kind<br/>of tone with his superior before, and he never would again--if he lived to<br/>take any tone with him at all. It was too fatalistic to his own ears, but<br/>thankfully, O'Neill just gave him one long, last look, and turned to his<br/>team.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Time to Dare

"Sergeant Siler!"  


Dan Siler made a sharp about-face, walking back down the hall as quickly as he could. When General Hammond barked like that, it didn't do to dawdle.  


"Yes, sir?"  


"SG-1 is coming through with some sort of artifact they found on P99 269." A fact which seemed to make the general nervous. "I want a full quarantine set up--a room that's disconnected from all base electrical and computer systems. And I want it EM shielded."  


What the hell were they bringing back? If it was anything like that thing that ate Major Carter's brain--or, God forbid, that orb that nearly killed Colonel O'Neill....  


"I'll get right on it, sir," he promised, hefting his wrench. He'd been tightening a new security bulkhead on level 20, and the tool was a huge deadweight in his hand as he pondered exactly what kind of menace SG-1 was bringing back.  


Sometimes, he wondered why he bothered to stay with the SGC. He could have gotten a nice cushy job, after all--maybe some nice mine-sweeping in the former Yugoslavia.  


* * *  


"Hey, Siler!" Colonel O'Neill's voice rang out, hale and hearty. Whatever was going to happen--and of course, something _was_ going to happen--at least it hadn't happened yet. "Got our room ready for us?"  


 _Our room._ Now didn't that conjure up things Dan would just rather not think about? Or rather, would like to think about but didn't.  


"Yes, sir," he replied, managing to keep his feelings to himself (and he'd damn sure had enough practice at _that_ , hadn't he?). "We set you up in 2305."  


"2305?" Major Carter asked, looking a bit tense as she supervised Dr. Jackson and Teal'c in their transportation of the "artifact." Looked like a big honkin' radio to Siler. "It's got the new Asgard shielding on it, right?"  


"Yes, ma'am." And now it also had a central electrical line and a shielded phone line and a ton of other things he and his boys had put together in the five hours since General Hammond had given them their assignment. But Siler didn't say that. He didn't need to. Carter knew he knew what the hell he was doing.  


"I might need a little help with this, Sergeant," Carter continued, leading them all to the elevator with that crazy energy she seemed to radiate when faced with a new problem.  


"Yeah, Sparky, come on," Colonel O'Neill added, throwing a comradely arm over Siler's shoulders while Dan tried not to stiffen up-- _anywhere_. "It'll be fun."  


"As long as it doesn't blow up in our faces," Dr. Jackson chipped in distractedly.  


Wonderful. There was a ringing endorsement.  


* * *  


Twenty minutes in, and the thing hadn't blown up.  


And Dan Siler hadn't bothered to leave the room.  


He told himself it was because Major Carter might still need his help, regardless of the fact that she and Dr. Jackson had immediately gotten to tinkering with the alien boombox and were ignoring him completely. He told himself he was just making sure that all the safety precautions he and his team set up were working properly. He told himself it had nothing to do with the fact that Colonel O'Neill was being downright... chummy.  


"So, Siler," O'Neill began, resuming their on-again off-again conversation. "I keep meaning to ask you..." He hefted Siler's wrench, looking at it curiously. "What's with the big wrench?"  


Siler reined in his hormones. This was ridiculous! He was thirty-eight years old, for God's sake! Still...  


Didn't mean he'd forgotten how to flirt, did it?  


"Sometimes you need a big tool for some jobs, sir."  


The colonel gave him a long look. Oh God, oh God, oh God...  


"So... You're saying that size _does_ matter?"  


No man was allowed to be that... cute. It flew in the face of logic.  


"For some things, sir. Yes, sir." Smooth. Friendly. Not flirty or overt. Nope. Not one bit.  


The colonel grinned and Dan would have melted into the floor if it had been an option. But he reminded himself that, again, he was thirty-eight years old. And he was an Air Force officer and this guy was his superior and... He fought down a whimper as the colonel whispered, "Good."  


"Hey, Jack..."  


Uh-oh. Dr. Jackson was a man of many tones. He could be exasperated, irritated, excited, and just downright strange. But the tone he used now was the one that said "the danger is finally here, guys. Brace for it."  


"Yes?" The colonel's drawn out word was also a sign, and Siler saw Teal'c edge away from the device slightly in response. Wasn't a bad idea, actually, so Dan did the same.  


Carter's tone never really changed. She was a little too plain spoken for that to matter, though, really.  


"Sir, I think we may have hit the wrong button."  


O'Neill looked understandably irritated. "The wrong button, Major?" he asked sharply. "Should you have been hitting any buttons at all?"  


The boombox was humming now, and the hum was increasing.  


"That doesn't sound good," Dr. Jackson announced unnecessarily.  


The colonel gave the box one last disgusted look. "All right, everybody out. Now!"  


Well, now would be good, Siler thought, but there was just one problem...  


"Sir, we have to engage the Asgard shielding," Carter stated urgently. "It's going to take a minute for it to power up, and somebody has to be in here to flip the switch."  


Siler could see that she'd already started the power up protocol on the laptop he'd wired to the defense system. She couldn't have done it any earlier--not when the whole room was on its own separate line. Dr. Jackson had already made his way past Siler and stood in the doorway, waiting for the others. And he wasn't going to leave without the colonel. And the colonel wasn't going to leave without the Major. And Teal'c... Siler sighed at the inevitable.  


Fly High in the US Air Force might soon have a whole new meaning for him. High into a _wall_.  


"Sir, why don't you get your people out of here?" he heard himself say, watching something like pain flicker over the colonel's face. "It's only going to take a couple of minutes to boot up."  


"Siler," O'Neill pointed out quietly, "you may not have a couple of minutes."  


Thanks for the lesson in the obvious, sir. Luckily, Major Carter was on her way to the door, bringing the laptop with her as far as the makeshift connection wire would let her. Why hadn't he let Torrelli install that short-range wireless system again? Anyway, it didn't matter. The shields would be powered up in another minute and a half and the cords let Carter stand no more than ten feet from the door.  


Of course, E.T.'s radio was starting to howl in a big way. Decision time.  


"Colonel, get out," Siler rapped. He'd never taken that kind of tone with his superior before, and he never would again--if he lived to take any tone with him at all. It was too fatalistic to his own ears, but thankfully, O'Neill just gave him one long, last look, and turned to his team.  


"All right, folks, let's move!"  


And they were out, the hallway disappearing behind the blast door, leaving one small crack just large enough for Siler to slip through. And the boombox was screaming. And there were fifteen seconds left on the shields. Ten. Five... four... three... two... one--  


And then, there was a hellacious big boom followed by a whole lot of nothing.  


* * *  


Base hospital. He knew this place better than he knew his own office. He'd certainly spent a hell of a lot more time here, hadn't he?  


But it was _really_ dark. Emergency lighting dark.  


"Hey Sparky? You in there?"  


Dan tried to pry his eyes open a little more, and came up with an unlikely vision. Colonel O'Neill was sitting in a chair at the side of his bed.  


Colonel O'Neill? By _his_ bed?  


Brain damage. Had to be.  


"Come on, Siler..." The hallucination was cajoling him now. Gently. This was all just too weird.  


"Colonel, please." Well at least _that_ sounded normal. Dr. Fraiser walked up on his other side and tortured him, shining an incredibly bright light in his eyes. He blinked irritably and heard something that sounded suspiciously like a sigh of relief from the colonel. Or, you know, the hallucination of the colonel.  


"How are you feeling, Sergeant?" Dr. Fraiser asked him that question so often, she should just record the damn thing.  


"I'm fine, Doctor." Except that I'm seeing concerned colonels. Not as bad as pink elephants, but close.  


"Uh-huh." Never could put one over on her. "No headache at all, then?" She didn't even give him a chance to answer, just shoved a needle in the IV that he suddenly realized was attached to his arm. "Well, Sergeant, you're lucky to be alive." She looked around the darkened room wryly. "We won't have main power for a while, but at least we're all going to live to tell the tale."  


"Would have been luckier if you'd moved faster." See, now _that_ sounded like Colonel O'Neill! "Why the hell didn't you guys rig that thing better?" Did he sound angry? Not really. Sort of... worried? "I thought you were the best of the best when it came to this sort of thing."  


"Sir, there wasn't the power to have it on all the time." This from Major Carter, whose voice came from the bed next to Dan's. He turned, and saw that she was sitting up, her hands heavily bandaged. "I explained that before."  


Colonel O'Neill was never one to accept anything in good grace. "Well you should have had it on sooner." He pegged his major with a glare. "And you shouldn't have touched the damn thing in the first place! Haven't I told you before? No touching the alien artifacts!?"  


Definite brain damage. It was the only way to explain the fact that Siler's mind insisted on interpreting the colonel's anger at the situation as thinly-veiled concern for him. Him! A lowly sergeant that the colonel barely spoke to.  


Except today...  


He shook his head to rid it of those unproductive thoughts, and nearly rid himself of his lunch instead.  


"You okay there, Siler?" Concern again?  


Siler nodded carefully, fighting down nausea. Which was apparently Dr. Fraiser's cue to clear the room.  


"Major Carter and Sergeant Siler will both be fine, Colonel," she announced sharply. "You can come back tomorrow and check on them both."  


The colonel shot his major a dubious look, but she nodded him off. He then turned an altogether too worried gaze on Dan himself, and the sergeant was momentarily flustered.  


"I'll... be fine, sir."  


O'Neill nodded. "You'd better be, Sparky," he said quietly. "Because you and I have gotta have a talk about your timing."  


Siler grinned, sure that it probably looked a little goofy, but unable to stop himself. "Yes, sir."  


Fraiser had had enough. "Out!" she barked good-naturedly. "Go on! Shoo!"  


"Half pint Hitler," the colonel whispered on his way out, speeding up suddenly as she whirled on him, obviously hearing that parting shot.  


Fraiser sighed, and headed over to Major Carter's bed, where she fiddled with the IV and spoke quietly to her friend. After a few minutes, the major dozed off, and the doctor walked over to fiddle with Dan's IV instead.  


"Is she okay?" He couldn't imagine what had happened to Major Carter. She hadn't been in the room when the boombox blew, after all.  


Fraiser nodded a bit wearily. "She made the mistake of trying to move some of the debris to get at the artifact--she was afraid there might be further explosions. As if one isn't enough." The doctor sighed in a long-suffering manner, underpinned by a deep concern for her friend. "Her hands are pretty cut up, but she'll be all right."  


Siler lay back slightly. "That's good. And no one else was hurt?"  


"No, thanks to you," she replied with a frown. "Though the colonel isn't too pleased with you, right now."  


"With _me_?" he asked. Had he missed something? He did good, right?  


Fraiser stared at him for a long moment before her lips turned up in a small grin. "You risked your life today," she pointed out. "For him."  


Dan shook his head, denying the truth of her statement. "For everybody," he replied. "I mean, if that thing had blown without the shields in place..."  


"It was the shields being in place that nearly got you killed, Dan."  


"What?" This was all more than his admittedly addled mind could take in. "I don't get it."  


"The colonel tried to go back in for you," she explained, leaving him speechless. "But the shields were already up. They had to watch you take the brunt of the explosion." She shook her head. "Thank God it wasn't as large as they thought it was going to be."  


Siler tried to process that for a minute, watching as Dr. Fraiser injected something else into his IV. The painkillers had kicked in in the last few minutes, and now he felt something even more powerful dragging him down toward sleep. "So, that's why the colonel was so pissed off?" he asked, hearing his own voice start to slur. "Because I didn't get out in time? Because he had to try to get back in there to save me?"  


He saw a blurry image of the doctor's face as she smiled, and he struggled to figure out what that smile meant. Her words carried him away into darkness.  


"Because he doesn't like losing people he cares about, Sergeant..."  


* * *  


It was still dark when he came to. Which didn't really mean anything if main power was still out. He turned to look at the bunk beside his, and watched Major Carter sleeping peacefully for a long moment before turning the other way...  


And coming face to face with Colonel O'Neill, who was dozing uncomfortably in that same damn chair.  


"Um, Colonel?" Siler tried to keep his voice down, but it was just... wrong... to have the colonel sitting there. Wrong and strangely comforting. "Colonel?"  


O'Neill woke with a start and fixed his eyes almost desperately on Dan's face.  


"You're awake." Again, the obvious. "You should be asleep."  


"So should you, sir." Boy. This was definitely unexplored territory. Not unwanted, mind, but definitely unexplored.  


The colonel flashed a carefree smile. "Hey, you were the one who woke me up."  


"I meant you... You should be asleep in your own bed. Sir." Dan had an insane desire to scream at the insanity.  


O'Neill gave him a very long look. One comprised of worry and pain and... something else that Dan would be damned if he was going to try to name. "I just wanted to check on you. Make sure you were all right."  


If ever there was a time to dare...  


"Why, sir?"  


The colonel seemed taken aback by the question. After another long moment, he shrugged diffidently. "You saved a lot of butts today, Siler."  


But Dan shook his head. If the colonel was here, in the middle of the night, it had to mean _something_ , right? It had to mean... "That's not a reason to be standing watch, if you'll forgive me saying so, sir."  


"What's to forgive?" the older man said quickly, a cheer in his voice that was almost perfectly faked. "Hey, you don't want me hanging around here, I can take off, you know?"  


He got up to leave and Dan gave in to his impulses and grabbed his superior's wrist.  


"Stay."  


O'Neill's smile this time was more truthful, and Dan finally risked naming the emotion behind it. Maybe not love, but definitely affection. Definitely something more than friendship.  


"Go to sleep, Dan," O'Neill whispered.  


Siler's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "I didn't know you even knew I _had_ a first name, sir."  


The colonel's hand--Jack's hand--reached out and covered Siler's eyes gently.  


"Go to sleep, Dan," he repeated gently. "I'll be here when you wake up."  


 _If_ this isn't a dream, Siler told himself sharply.  


But somehow, as he faded off, the warmth of Jack's hand in his, he had a  
feeling that the dreaming was over.

* * *  
The End


End file.
